The Armstrong’s Top Guiding Principles for 2017 and beyond!

New Years is an important time to take a step back for some self-reflection. This year, my family and my company are taking our biggest journey yet–launching our own TV talk show, the Never Settle Show. When my wife Nicole and I founded Mario Armstrong Media more than a decade ago, we always knew we’d one day have our own show, and this year we’ll see all that hard work pay off.

But between running a company with my wife and raising our son, Christopher, there’s been a lot to juggle and a lot of ups and downs. That’s why today I’m going to share my family’s five guiding principles that we’ll be using in 2017. This year, forget resolutions that are abandoned in a few weeks. Instead invest energy in strategies for real change that will move your life forward in 2017!

Mindset

Having a positive mindset can often be the difference between success and failure. At multiple times during our company’s life, Mario Armstrong Media almost didn’t make it. When we first got our start we quit our jobs to pursue our passion, and when the money didn’t come, we often found ourselves scraping together change just to survive. Then, right when things were starting to look up, the recession hit, and we had to weather that storm as well. But throughout, Nicole and I have maintained a positive mindset that has helped us through some of our toughest times.

Passion

I always tell budding entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, or people just looking to make some more cash with a side hustle that they need to be passionate about what they’re pursuing or it won’t work out. It’s just too hard to put in all of the long hours, the sleepless nights, the setbacks and the hard work it takes to succeed if you aren’t truly passionate about what you’re doing.

For many, even just finding that passion is a problem. It’s taken me years to be able to pursue my passion–helping people move forward in their lives–in the best way possible. From local radio/TV to the Today show and now with my Never Settle Show, I always found ways to reach wider audiences and connect with people on a more real and tangible level. The goal has been to help them find their passions and take concrete action to move forward.

Visualization

Whether you’re getting deep into meditation like me, using visualization techniques before a big public speaking event or even when asking the boss for a raise, it’s important to take time and take care of your mental state before moving forward with any big project. I’m a big believer in the power of visualization to determine how close (or far) I am from achieving goals and seeing what may be standing in the way. For Nicole and I, it was our smiles.

Our smiles just didn’t match how we visualized ourselves, but braces wouldn’t work for our busy lifestyles and images! It’s hard for me to imagine myself on the Today show or CNN with big visible braces, and it’s even harder for me to imagine Nicole showing up to close a deal with them either! We aren’t teenagers anymore–which, I don’t even know why teenagers would want metal braces either! So we did our research and discovered that Invisalign® clear aligners, which has the most advanced teeth straightening technology in the world, provided the answer to improving our smiles without disrupting our lives.

Belief

Establishing an internal belief system is key. You need to actually believe in yourself and your ability to do that one thing you’re after. For me, I also had to have tremendous belief in my wife, since not only is she my business partner, she runs the company! All the important decisions have to go through her first.

“Belief” is also a guiding principle for our family because remembering why we’re good and what we deserve is important. If you’re a DJ, computer programmer, public speaker or CEO, you have to believe you’re one of the greatest DJs, computer programmers, public speakers or CEO’s of all time!

So today, take a minute to get your new year started right by taking a moment and reminding yourself why you’re great at what you do, or why your product is totally awesome. Maybe that means taking a peek at some customer testimonials, or asking friends on Facebook what they like the most about you, or getting on the phone with someone you love, but haven’t talked to in a while.

Belief can be a deep well of energy for you to dip your bucket into, to take along with you every step of the way while you pursue your passions or dreams. And when things aren’t going well, you’re always able to fall back on that belief to prop you up during the hardest of times.

And once you truly believe it, it’s time to act.

Action

The last principle is the most difficult but also the most critical… taking action. Unfortunately, a lot of people can do the other four principles, but without action, you will never reach success. Overcome fear by trusting that if you are following your principles, action is the right next step to reach your potential.

Action also includes investing in yourself. For me, this meant Invisalign clear aligners, so that my smile and confidence matched the way I see myself and my success.I also knew four million people used Invisalign treatment, and then I watched Nicole have success with her smile transforming before my eyes. Now I visualize myself with confidence that comes from having straight teeth and an energetic smile!

If you’re having trouble taking action, or find yourself getting stuck, here’s what I do. Rather than focus on how I’m getting to the big picture (launching my own TV show), I focus on the next small step I can accomplish easily like hop on the phone and call a potential sponsor or draft that email I’ve been putting off. By chaining these small steps together, I’m able to knock down the big picture goal without getting overwhelmed!

Join me in making 2017 a year of real change and moving forward in your life!

Disclosure of Material Connection: Hey readers, this is a “sponsored post” by Invisalign. The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to write it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers.

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I am an Invisalign ® brand spokesperson and all opinions expressed are my own. Full disclosure. Over time, our social media profiles can get stale—the imagery you used on your profile pictures or cover photos last year might no longer represent the real you. You may have updated your bio on one channel, but forgotten it somewhere […]